The introduction provides a general description of the watershed in terms of its natural and human-made features, ownership and current land uses, and the communities within the watershed. Information in sections 1.2 and 1.3 was compiled from the Oregon Watershed Assessment Manual (Watershed Professionals Network, 1999), the Lower Cow Creek Watershed Analysis (USDI Bureau of Land Management, 2002), and the Middle South Umpqua Watershed Analysis (USDI Bureau of Land Management, 1999). Additional information is from the following sources’ databases: The Oregon Climate Service, the US Census Bureau, and the Douglas County Assessor.The Upper Cow Creek Watershed assessment has two goals: 1) To describe the past, present, and potential future conditions that affect water quality and fish habitat within the Upper Cow Creek Watershed; and 2) To provide a research-based action plan that suggests voluntary activities to improve fish habitat and water quality within the watershed. The Upper Cow Creek Watershed is 47,483 acres. There are no incorporated cities within the watershed. Galesville Reservoir is in the northwestern corner of the watershed. Galesville Dam blocks all anadromous fish passage in the watershed. The most common land use in the Upper Cow Creek Watershed is forestry, with 98.7% of the land base used for public or private forestry. Agriculture constitutes 1.2% of the land use, and mostly occurs along Cow Creek. Land ownership is primarily federal (67.0%).